Robert Brunner
Mr. Robert Ernst Brunner was employed at the Milwaukee Steamship Company as Chief Officer (1st Mate). EARLY LIFE. Robert Ernst Brunner was born in Berlin, Germany on July 13, 1910. He was baptized on August 1, 1910 at St. Hedwig’s Cathedral. He was the son of Reinhardt Brunner, an insurance surveyor from Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany. His mother was Elizabeth Ernst of Alsace-Lorraine, Germany. Robert had two older brothers; Adolph born 1908 and Josef born in 1909. GOING TO SEA. Robert went to sea in his teens, beginning an apprenticeship on October 3, 1927, onboard the Prince Rudolf. He served as third mate aboard the Prince Rudolf for four years until 1931. Then moved on to third mate of the Burckhardt Castle. Then later aboard the S.S. Dietrich,where he served initially as third mate, then as second mate. He latertransferred to the Cornelius and served aboard her as second mate. In July 1935, he joined the Norddeutscher Lloyd (North German Lloyd). Starting as a junior officer, Brunner rose steadily through the ranks while serving on several Norddeutscher Lloyd ships. These included the Bremen, Columbus, and Europa. A crewman who served with him aboard the Cornelius once said, “Brunner joined the Cornelius in May 1935and only served one trip before he joined the Norddeutscher Lloyd where he remained until the war started.During the short period I served with him, three weeks only, I remember him as a splendidly built man, rather quiet, perhaps a stickler for etiquette, but giving the impression of a most efficient officer." Brunner managed to make it to the rank of Chief Officer (1st Mate) in Norddeutscher Lloyd. KRIEGSMARINE. After the outbreak World War II, Robert joined the Kriegsmarine, at the age of thirty-one. He managed to reach the rank of Kapitänleutnant. He served the aboard the KMS Bismarck. He fought in the Battle of the Denmark Strait and the Bismarck’s last battle. The Battle of the Denmark Strait was a World War II naval battle between ships of the Royal Navy and the German Kriegsmarine, fought on 24 May 1941. The British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser HMS Hood fought the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, both of which were attempting to break out into the North Atlantic to attack Allied merchant shipping. Less than 10 minutes after the British opened fire, a shell from Bismarck struck Hood near her aft ammunition magazines. Soon afterward, Hood exploded, and sank within three minutes with the loss of all but three of her crew. Prince of Wales continued to exchange fire with Bismarck but suffered serious malfunctions in her main armament as the British battleship had not fully worked up after only being completed in late March 1941 and soon broke off the engagement. The battle was considered a tactical victory for the Germans; however, Bismarck was forced to abort her Atlantic mission due to damage suffered to her forward fuel tanks. In the Battle of the Denmark Strait, Bismarck's fuel tanks had been damaged, and her intention was to reach the port of Brest for repair. Her companion, the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, had left to continue further into the Atlantic. The action began after Bismarck, which had eluded the British forces (Prince of Wales and the heavy cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk) pursuing her, was sighted by a patrolling British aircraft on the afternoon of 26 May. It consisted of four main phases. The first phase consisted of air strikes by torpedo bombers from the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal, which disabled Bismarck's steering gear and thus jammed her rudders. The second phase was the shadowing and harassment of Bismarck during the night by British destroyers, with no serious damage to any ship. The third phase was an attack by the British battleships King George Vand Rodney, supported by cruisers, on the morning of the 27th. After about 100 minutes of fighting Bismarck was sunk by the combined effects of shellfire, torpedo hits and deliberate scuttling. On the British side, Rodney was lightly damaged by near-misses and by the blast effects of her own guns. British warships rescued 111 survivors from Bismarck before being obliged to withdraw, leaving several hundred men to their fate, because of an apparent U-boat sighting. In the final phase the withdrawing British ships were attacked by aircraft of the Luftwaffe, resulting in the loss of the destroyer HMS Mashona, and German ships and U-boats arrived later at the scene of the sinking and saved five more survivors. Kapitänleutnant Robert Brunner was among the last five survivors saved. He was lucky to have been saved by German U-Boats instead of the British ships. The British took the survivors they picked up as prisoners of war. Brunner was discharged from the Kriegsmarine due to injuries he sustained in the battle. The injuries Brunner received in the last battle consisted of a broken nose, broken left arm, a concussion, and permanent deafness in his left ear. He sustained these injuries when a British shell struck the deck thirty feet away from him. Due to this, he was knocked down to the deck of the Bismarck with concussive force. COMING TO AMERICA. Shortly after the end of World War II, Robert came to America in 1946. He managed to settle in the town of Dunkirk, Wisconsin. Dunkirk was a primarily German and German-American town. While on a trip in Milwaukee he heard about the Milwaukee Steamship Company. Milwaukee Shipping Company shipped freight and metal ore throughout the Great Lakes. Brunner applied for a job there and got it. He quickly rose through the ranks once again and achieved his old rank of Chief Officer (1st Mate) once again in 1948. Brunner managed to start a family in Dunkirk. He married Martha Catherine Jones in 1949. The couple later had six children. These children were (in order of age): Jane Brunner (1949), Henry Owen Brunner (1950), Arnold Brunner (1951), Nancy Brunner (1952), and Archibald and Richard Brunner (1953). Archibald and Richard were premature twins. Tragedy struck when Martha died in childbirth. Archibald and Richard managed to be saved though. Unfortunately another tragedy struck when Archibald and Richard both died in infancy. This crushed Robert and he fell into a temporary state of depression. His neighbors in Dunkirk took care of his remaining children while he was away working on the Great Lakes. DEATH. Robert Ernst Brunner died on April 15, 1955 at the age of forty-five when the ship he was aboard, the Joseph R. Wagner, sank in a brutal storm on the Great Lakes. The last radio call was made my Chief Officer Brunner. He indicated that the ship was taking on water. She was listing to port and had two of three ballast pumps working. She had lost her radar and damage was noted to ballast tank vent pipes and he was overheard on the radio saying, "don't allow anybody on deck." Out of twenty-nine total crewmembers, twenty survived. There were nine deaths (the ship’s Captain, Chief Officer Brunner, the Chief Engineer, three engineers, one of the ship’s wheelsman, and one of the ship’s deckhands). The survivors of the sinking said that Robert had taken charge of the task that was lowering the ship’s lifeboats and that he had taken every precaution concerning the safety of the crew. They also said that “without Chief Officer Brunner, we would not be upon this earth today.” Brunner’s body along with the body of the ship’s wheelsman was recovered about three days after the sinking. The other three bodies were not recovered. Brunner’s body was found in surprisingly pristine condition. Showing very little signs of decomposition. He was still wearing his uniform along with a lifejacket. The contents of his pockets were: his glasses, his officer’s whistle his wallet, a photo of his wife and each of his children, his Milwaukee Steamship Company identification, and a rosary. A silver crucifix was also discovered around his neck. It was later discovered that Brunner did not drown, but had died due to hypothermia. FUNERAL. Robert Ernst Brunner was buried in the Old Dunkirk Cemetery on April 20, 1955. Approximately 200 people attended his funeral. It was the largest funeral that the small town of Dunkirk has ever had. *** Info: ***Name: Robert Ernst Brunner. ***Born: July 13, 1910. ***Birthplace: Berlin Germany. ***Height: 6 feet, 4 inches. ***Eye Color: Brown. ***Hair Color: Brown. ***Religion: Roman Catholicism. ***Distinctive Traits: Glasses, German accent, tall, powerfully built.